Human Spotlight
‘Young blood’ infusions may boost cognitive abilities of Alzheimer’s patients
The first controlled, but controversial and small, clinical trial of giving young blood to people with dementia has reported that ...
How do you define ‘species’? Turns out, it’s not so easy
At first glance, “species” is a basic vocabulary word school children can ace on a test by reciting something close ...
Unlocking the mystery of complex diseases
In our effort to find the answers to some of the most afflicting conditions and diseases known to science, biologists ...
What’s the excitement over gene therapy?
Gene therapy has been in the news a lot of late as a potential cure for a variety of genetic ...
Two of a kind? Twins offer unique glimpse into human development
In the world of genetics, identical twins offer a valuable source for study. And they've shown that our genetic makeup ...
100 billion neurons make up our brain—how does it all work?
[Editor's note: Sara Linker and Tracy Bedrosian are postdoctoral research fellows in the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute for ...
There’s a reason you have trouble thinking and remembering when hunger sets in
Why is it so hard to think while you're hungry? Researchers now believe it may come down to one protein ...
Creating a brain cell ‘periodic table’ from live tissue
There are 86 billion neurons in the human brain and no two of them are exactly alike. If doctors and ...
Cost effective? What DNA screening might catch that we are not likely to find
Known broadly as the MyCode Community Health Initiative and run by the Danville-based Geisinger Health System, the effort has so ...
IQ debate: How much of intelligence is determined by genetics?
[Editor's note: Robert Plomin is deputy director of the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Center at King’s College London.] ...
Universally shared biodata could create powerful ‘internet of living things’
Imagine students in universities becoming the first “sequencing line of defense” by detecting bacteria resistant to antibiotics and educating their ...
Cancer treatments gain strength when linked to genomic tests and therapy
In an interview with ETHealthworld, Dr Govind Babu, Associate Professor at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, discusses the rapid advancements in genomics, ...
Viewpoint: Gender equity debate demands understanding of biological differences
[Editor's notes: Marta Iglesias is a predoctoral researcher in the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Lisbon. Her research is focused on how ...
GM yeast grows non-psychoactive marijuana compound for potential epilepsy treatment
A non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana plants called cannabidivarin (CBDV) has shown promise in the treatment of severe cases of epilepsy ...
Rooting racism and sexism out of artificial intelligence
In 2016, Microsoft released a “playful” chatbot named Tay onto Twitter designed to show off the tech giant’s burgeoning artificial ...
If you aren’t a morning person, evolution may be to blame
[A] study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences in July suggests our bodies and ...
‘Awakened’ vegetative man shows how viral stories raise false hopes
A man recently “woke” from a vegetative state, crying again after “regaining consciousness,” creating a flurry of news coverage. Yet as exciting ...
‘Designer babies’ are coming soon, but who gets to have them?
Designer babies are coming in 20 to 30 years. Your children will be able to select, to some degree, their ...
Argument for rolling our clocks back: Your brain needs the morning boost
Shifting the clock back one hour means more people won't have to wake up before sunrise. When you wake to ...
Conjoined twins: How do you decide which one to save?
Doctors at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children faced an ethical challenge when a pair of conjoined twins born in Africa ...
Fighting malaria: Bacteria targets parasites in mosquito gut
Using a bacteria strain that colonizes the mosquito digestive tract and spreads rapidly throughout the populations, scientists have successfully inhibited ...
Ancient incompatibility: Why human females and Neanderthal males had difficulty conceiving
After years of sequencing the genomes of female Neandertals, researchers have finally got their first good look at the Y ...
Gene circuit triggers immune system to battle cancer
A research team at MIT has used synthetic biology to create a gene circuit that triggers the immune system to ...
Controversy walks hand-in-hand with the artificial womb, but is it warranted?
Research into the development of an artificial womb has sparked a wide range of conjecture from bioethicists who worry about ...
Safer CRISPR? Cas13 version edits RNA, not DNA
CRISPR, while a major leap forward in gene editing, can still be a blunt instrument. There have been problems with ...
‘Chemical surgery’ could treat diseases by fixing genetic mutations
A breakthrough in “chemical surgery” that can correct a type of genetic mutation behind a host of diseases has been ...
Keeping aging at bay by killing ‘zombie cells’
[Jan] van Deursen and his colleagues at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, [had] an idea: could killing off these 'zombie' ...
